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A former nationalist minister who was one of the earliest supporters of civil rights in Northern Ireland is to help mark its 50th anniversary next year.

Brid Rodgers has been appointed chair of an SDLP committee which party leader Colum Eastwood said would deliver on the lasting legacy of the protest.

A broad coalition of activists including John Hume, Austin Currie, Ivan Cooper and others agitated for rights such as one man one vote and the fair allocation of public housing.

Mr Eastwood said: "Brid Rodgers played a critical role in the struggle for equal civil and political rights in the morth.

"I'm delighted that she has agreed to lead the efforts to mark the 50th anniversary of the movement."

In October 1968, when television pictures of RUC officers baton-charging a civil rights demonstration in Derry were shown around the world, the Northern Ireland civil rights movement became international news.

It had begun some five years earlier in 1963 when protesters began marching over the unfair allocation of council houses in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.

Families later squatted in houses which were due to be sold off by the council for outhouses.